Holidays

Wow, that came too fast, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's eve and New Year's day. Suddenly it's 2010.
And the eating was non-stop. We did all traditionals although maybe I will try other stuff next year...the only changes made were the lengua done with tomato sauce estofada style instead of the cream of mushrooms, no long noodle, just ravioli.
Let's see, ham and pork loin rib roast for Xmas eve, Prime Roast Beef bone-in for Xmas day with the accoutrement mashed potatoes etc. and Yule Log (Buche de Noel) from the MACC. Migay turned 26 and disappeared as usual. But January 1st was Cocido with the eggplant side, Lengua and Paella and Kylie's signature fruit salad. Kudos to Sam for the much improved leche flan, )probably because he used the correct llanera .
All in all, a good time was had by all. And another year begins.

Thursday Night again

Last Thursday was Thanksgiving, but today is another week, and it is December. I did a beef brisket that I put in the oven overnight at 220 degrees, threw in onions, garlic, liquid smoke, soy sauce, left over bbq oven pit, honey mustard, lawry's, salt, pepper and covered it. So when I was worried about dinner, I remembered the french beans I had so that got nuked with olive oil, then I did egg noodles with butter and parmesan with meatballs. There was LO of yukon gold potatoes and pork. Whew, another night of food, kids, apos, laughter, buzzing. So much to thank the Lord for.

Florida trip bits and pieces

The space launch was amazing, a streak of gold slashed through the sky and a cloud of smoke trailed the shuttle's path. of course, you have 12 minutes to run back into the bus just in case acid rain blew our way off the causeway.

Where are the oranges? ooops, as we drove down towards Ft Lauderdale, every side of the 27 had orange orchards ....wish I could have stopped.

Tamiami Trail is also the 41 which if followed through would have led back to Chicago. But Tamiami trail is also Alligator land....soon, alligator spotting was the sport.

But the birds ...didn;t get to see flamingos nor pelicans but lots of egrets, cormorants, eagles and so many more...forgot to buy a book so check off which ones I saw.

And imagine that, no Disney when I was in Orlando. But got to swim briefly in salt water.

2009 Thanksgiving

It's one of those off years, Kylie went to Zion, Bambi to Wauwatosa and JB to somewhere in Indiana. So we had a quiet but enjoyable turkey dinner at Anamite's. Dawn had a good turkey, great side including a green bean and mushroom side, Migay's famous smashed potatoes, some brussel sprouts which i tried to eat (finished one) and Ina's orange cranberry relish. Hunter played the cello with a lot a prodding, and pumpkin pie was had. Thankful for another year, missed GYN and remembered all the turkey days back home. Capped the evening with a George Clooney movie, Men Who Stare At Goats.

Another Thursday Night Dinner

So tonight, we had a pork butt crock pot roast I made earlier this morning. But I decided to add shrimp fried rice which all the apos enjoyed. And I am still trying to re-create the pancit sotanghon that we used to have at the Rolling Pin MH Del Pilar restaurant. Another regret I have for not spending more tim,e with mang Lucio and mang Emong. I sauteed garlic and red onion, added boneless, skinless chicken breast with a bit of Knorr ginisa mix, black pepper, patis and powdered atsuete. Then I added sliced green beans, sliced baby bok choy and chicken broth. I remembered to add last minute garlic oil which picked up the flavors a lot. Came close, but I should have used a firmer fatter sotanghon. And should have used an oil based atsuete (annatto seed powder). Another dinner done. And hey, this time the apos ate both pancit and shrimp fried rice which was simply stir fried eggs, garlic, peas and carrots with baby shrimps and rice. Oh, and a bit of soy sauce. Lynn said she liked it and it tasted better than the ones from the Chinese restaurant, that was a great compliment from my pihikan na apo.

Cupcakes for c Cause

Mrs. A's Cupcakes & Cookies is once more participating in Cupcakes for a Cause which supports Cancer Care for Kids. From September 21 to 27, 50 cents will be donated to the organization from every cupcake sold at our little shop. To find out more about this worthwhile fund raiser, please check out their website and create a cupcake on-line at http://www.cupcakesforacause.org/.

Thursday Night Dinner 9/03/09

Sigh, the weeks go really fast. So I got lazy. Went to the fresh market of ASSI, got some big shucked clams....there's the linguine pasta with garlic, basil and curly/flat leaf parsleys....irish garlic herbed butter...(don't have any olive oil, need to buy), then the inihaw na baboy...marinated in soy sauce, vinegar, garlic with salt and pepper, last night's left over binagoongang baboy will now become binagoongang kang kong for the veggies, and since fresh shrimp is as cheap as beef or pork, hilabos na hipon again. Really lazy of me but hey, it's fresh. Am now just wiaiting for family to arrive...and I am planning next week in my mind again....when it gets cooler, back to casseroles stuffed in the oven...too hot right now to do that.